May 13, 2007

Box Score

DAYTON, Ohio - Homestanding Dayton nearly overcame a six-run deficit with a four-run rally in the seventh inning, but the comeback came up short as the Flyers lost to George Washington, 8-6 in the home finale at Time Warner Cable Stadium on Sunday.

With the loss, UD falls to 19-31 overall this season and 8-16 in Atlantic 10 Conference play. The Flyers also finished with a 9-12 record at home this season, which is their first losing season in the three-year history of Time Warner Cable Stadium.

GW used opportunistic hitting to score six runs on 11 hits off UD starter Sean Finn, which mostly consisted of looping balls just over the reach of the Dayton infielders. Finn suffered the loss after striking out one batter and walking another in 4.0 innings of work.

Chris Beesley came on to throw 3.0 innings of effective relief as he allowed just two runs on three hits while striking out five Colonials. Cale Ort closed out the game on the mound for the Flyers with 2.0 innings of perfect pitching that included one strikeout.

Trailing 8-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Dayton began a rally with a solid single up the middle by Fran Tedesco. Then Cole Tyrell hit a pop up into shallow left field, but the GW shortstop dropped the ball and in an attempt to catch Tedesco straying off second base, the Colonial fielder threw the ball high of second base. Dayton had runners on second and third with no outs following the two errors for Kevin Miller who drew a five-pitch walk to load the bases. Senior Michael Massa followed with a two-RBI single up the middle, which also pushed Miller to third base. However, Massa was picked off at first base for the first out of the inning during the next at bat. Scott Dunwoody followed with a RBI single just under the outreached glove of the centerfielder to send home Miller from third. Bobby Getty followed with a walk and after a pitching change, Jeff Mercer drove in another Flyer run with a RBI single through the left side. However a double play ended the threat as UD came up short, 8-6.

The Flyers close out their season with four games on the road beginning on Tuesday at Eastern Kentucky. UD will also travel to Saint Louis for a three-game series (Thu.-Sat.) to wrap up its Atlantic 10 Conference schedule. All four games can be followed with Gametracker at www.DaytonFlyers.com.